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Joy to the World - Handel?

Who wrote Hark, the Herald Angels Sing?

Who wrote Hark, the Herald Angels Sing?

That would be Mendelssohn.

-Michael B.

James Lord Pierpont, of course. It was titled, "One Horse Open Sleigh," and originally had a different chorus with a much more interesting (IMO) structure.

Now THAT is really funny!

The Star Spangled Banner!

Everybody in the U.S. knows it!

But not Francis Scott Key!

Interesting!

On that topic, it once took me about 15 min to recognize his 5th symphony. That was of course, after the 1st mvt. had played(before I tuned in).

Hey mate, we've been though this before.

Here is my post (unedited) from a previous thread:

From "Music in England" by Henry Raynor:

The Anacreontic Society was founded in 1766; it met in the Crown and Anchor Tavern on the Strand "for supper and the singing of catches, glees and songs." Each meeting opened with the glee by John Stafford Smith, 'To Anacreon in Heaven', which was the 'constitutional hymn' and which, not many years later, became 'The Star-Spangled Banner'...

Interesting, no?

I've never cared much for it. Why can't the US use "America the Beautiful"? A classier tune, and anyone can sing it.

Classier? Maybe.

But certainly not as stirring!

I know some organ arrangements of the "Star Spangled Banner" that are extremely thrilling. Jason, I bet you know them too.

Not quite the same effect with "America the Beautiful".

The "mistake" in choosing "The Star Spangled Banner" as a national anthem comes from picking a song that has a range of an octave and a half, which means that most untrained singers can't sing it. Is there another national anthem with such a wide range?

Does any other country have the bizarre - if not disrespectful - tradition of having non-singers trying to sing (too often unsucessfully) their national anthem at mass events?

Regards,

Also just as a side note, I think the US is only one of like two countries in the world that doesn't have it's name in it's national anthem. I think that's just one more reason to use "America the Beautiful"

Have you done research on this?

The French national anthem, "La Marseillaise" makes no mention of France in its lyrics. "...enfants de la patrie... is the closest mention, and "children of the fatherland" could be applicable to any country.

If "God Save the Queen/King" is the "official" English national anthem, there is no mention of England in that anthem's verse, either. It is, it appears, not the national anthem of England but that of Great Britain. One website claims "Land of Hope and Glory" as England's national anthem, and England isn't mentioned in that song, either.

We Canadians, on the other hand, sing the word "Canada" four times in the first verse of "O Canada": there's no ambiguity in our anthem!

Regards,

Actually no, I didn't :rolleyes: but I was fairly certain it was something I had read on here a while ago. Maybe I was wrong, if it's false, then it's my fault.

Hoedown-Copland (Known to many as the "BEEF" Song!)

Well as a matter of fact, I do. But no one can sing it like Whitney .

She is spectacular. Nice plagal cadence near the end. After Aretha's disaster at the 1968 Democratic Convention, there was really no where to go, was there?

Then again, the great man conducts Land of Hope and Glory. He was a supreme conductor of his own music, just listen to how he paces it.

Plenty of Last Night at the Proms on YouTube. Very stirring. As a young teen my mother took me to one of those extravaganzas.

I was so overcome by emotion that I just couldn't sing it, but that is where my lifelong adoration of Elgar started. He is "our" composer.

But here is a nice example of those "Last Nights" which I loved.

It will be noted that Elgar's orchestration has never been changed. He got it right the first time. Interestingly, both Stravinsky and Strauss made changes to their scores after an initial run through. Elgar never did.

Make of that what you will...